1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an angular position adjusting apparatus, an angular position adjusting method, and a computer-readable recording medium for angular position adjustment, and more particularly, to an angular position adjusting apparatus, an angular position adjusting method, and a computer-readable recording medium for angular position adjustment for adjusting the angular position of a control panel of, for example, an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years and continuing, the use of image forming apparatuses such as copiers (e.g. electrophotographic type copy machines), facsimiles, printers, plotters, and printing machines is rapidly increasing. In controlling image forming apparatuses, a control part of an image forming apparatus includes various input and output apparatuses such as a control panel including, for example, a control button(s) for inputting data (e.g. hard key such as a switch, soft key such as a touch panel), and a display for displaying status information and instructions from the image forming apparatus (e.g. LED, LCD). In some cases of using the control part, there may be difficulty in operating the control part due to physical characteristics of the user (operator), such as height or difficulty in viewing the display due to lighting or external light.
In order to solve such difficulties, various mechanisms for changing the angular position of the control part or the display are proposed (For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 2003-345087, 2003-337506, and 2004-287453). Such mechanisms include, for example, a control panel protruding from a main body of an apparatus for allowing the angular position of the control panel to be adjusted. Another mechanism includes a component that applies load (e.g. friction) to a member such as a rotary axle or a joint part provided by a ratchet mechanism.
However, with an image forming apparatus having the protruding control panel, the position of the control panel does not change and remains in the protruding state once the electric power of the image forming apparatus is turned off. From the aspect of safety or efficient utilization of space, it is preferable to change the position of the control panel when the image forming apparatus is not in use. With the image forming apparatus having the rotary axle or the joint part, the rotary axle or the joint part of the control part may undesirably rotate in a case where too much force applied upon operating the control part or where the joint part is weakly affixed to the control part. Accordingly, a large operating force or complicated operation (e.g. adjusting the rotary angle of the control part by removing the ratchet mechanism) may be required for the user (particularly, in a case where the user is a child, an elderly person, or a physically impaired person).